Machine for separating liquids and solids.



A. LINDBMANN. MACHINE FOR SEPARATING LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS.

APPLICATION FILED APE.7,1913.

1,073,61 1. Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

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n (1 01am 04 f 7115M A. LINDEMANN. MACHINE FOR SEPARATING LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS.

APPLICATION FILED APB.7, 1918.

Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

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Swuawboz A 3&1; GHIMMQQM 2 A. LINDEMANN. momma FOB SEPABATING mourns AND SOLIDS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 7, 1913.

1,073,61 1 Patented Sept; 23, 1913.

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A. LINDEMANN. MACHINE FOB SEPARATING LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS.

APPLICATION TILED unxr, 191a.

1,073,61 1. Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

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AUGUST LINDEMANN, or NEW YORK. N. Y., ASSIGNOR 'ro RUDOLPH LINDEMANN, or .NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOBSEPARATING LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS.

roman.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUST LINDEMANN, a citizen of the German Empire, and resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented Improvements in Machines for Separating Liquids and Solids, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for separating the liquids and solids contained in shredded sugar cane, brewery grains, paper pulp and similar mixtures of solids and liquids.

The object of my invention is to provide a continuously operating machine of this character which will rapidly and completely extract the liquid content from such mixtures without applying heavy pressure to the solid matter of the mixture and in which the working parts of the machine are continuously cleaned throughout the operation of the machine.

A further object of my invention, is to provide a machine in which the solids of the mixture has forced through it fresh water and air or steam to effectively wash the same and extract from it all soluble matter which should be taken up by the liquid content of the mixture.

A further object of my invention is to improve the construction of the various parts of the machine as will be hereinafter fully described to prevent clogging and fouling of the machine and make the parts readily accessible for cleaning or replacement.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated two different modifications of my improved machine which are especially designed and adapted for the separation of the juices and solids of sugar cane, but it will of course be understood that the machine shown may be used without modification for separating various other substances and also that various modifications of the mechanism disclosed may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention on the scope of the appended claims.

In the said drawings Figure l is a side elevation partly in section of one form of my improved machine; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are detailed sectional views of portions of the mechanisms of this machine; Fig. 6 is a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 7, 1913.

Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

Serial No. 759,576.

side elevation partly in section of a modified form of machine. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 8 is a detailed view hereinafter referred to.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly Figs. 1 to 5, 1 indicates the frame of the machine which consists of a suitable tank for receiving the mixture to be treated and provides a support for the various parts of the machine. Rotatably mounted in suitable bearings within the tank and over a de pression in the bottom thereof is a drum 2 comprising a cylindrical shell 3 rigidly supported between double-walled hollow end heads 4 having hollow trunnions 5 which project through the side walls of the tank for a purpose to be hereinafter described. A belt 6 of loose mesh wire or textile fabric passes around the drum 2 and over a drum 7, similar in construction to the drum 2, and having its hollow portions mounted in bearings at the opposite end of the tank and above the level of the liquid therein. Between the two drums the upper web of the belt passes over 2 roller 8 supported between the walls of the tank near the top edge and also over a roller 9 adjacent the drum 7. The shaft of the roller 9 projects beyond its bearings and on one end is provided with a worm gear 10 meshing with a worm 11 on the driving shaft 12 of the machine. At its opposite end the shaft of the roller 9 is provided with a sprocket wheel connected by a suitable chain 13 with a sprocket on the trunnion of the drum 7 for continuously driving the same.

Mounted above the roller 9 in line with the point of engagement of the roller and the belt (3 is a similar roller or pulley 14 which supports a belt 15 whose lower web extends parallel to the upper web of the belt 6. The belt passes around a similar pulley 16 mounted above the roller 8 between two members 17 which are trunnioned on the shaft of the roller 1 and pivotally supported at their opposite ends beyond the pulleys 16 on the sides of the tank 1 as provided which engages a plate 20' on top of the spring and is threaded through ,the cross piece 21 of the journal box.

For feeding the mixture to be separated to the tank I have shown a feeding trough 22 at one end of the tank provided with a suitable gate Valve 23, and a stirrer 24 as is common in such devices. The trough is maintained charged with the material from any suitable source and has the inner end in .close proximity to the surface of the drum 2 which is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1.

The detailed construction of the drums 2 and 7 are shown more fully in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. The shell 3 which comprises the middle portion of the drum is slotted throughout its periphery as shown at 25. Within the drum at each end there is formed a series of chambers 27 each of which is of a width equal to about eight. of the slots 25 on the outer surface of the drum. Ports 28 in the bottom of the slots connect the slots of each group with the chamber beneath and connecting to the chambers with the space between the two walls of the head 3 of the roll are valves 30 of novel construction which will now be described. Each valve 30 comprises a tubular outer portion or valve box 31 which is ground to fit the hole in the inner Wall of the drum head at its inner end and at its outer end is rovided with aflange 32 engaging the face 0 the outer wall of the.

head of the drum against which it is held in tight engagement by suitable bolts 33. The shell 31 has ports 34 in its walls communicating with the space between the two heads of the drum and slidingly mounted in the shell is a stem 35 which projects beyond the shell at each end and is provided with a valve disk 35 held in fluidtight engagement with the end of the shell 81 by means of a spring 36surroundin the stem and engaging the inner wall ofthe chamber 27. The portion of the stem between the disk 35 and the ports 34 is formed ofthree spaced webs 38 which maintain the stem properly centered in the sleeve and at the same time permit the passage of the liquid. A suitable stufling box is provided at the outer end of the valve stem and seated in the end of the valve stem is a hardened steel plug 40 for engagement with the valve operating camas will now be described. It will be understood that there is a chamber 27 at each end of the drum for each grou of slots throu hout the entire periphery o the roll and t at the hollow trunnions of the roll are connected by suitable piping with :the suction side of a pump, not shown, by

means of which the liquid content of the mixture is removed from the machine and delivered where desired. At each end of the roll and rigidly supported in any suitable manner, I provide a cam 41 extending through slightly more than one-half of the diameter of the drum on the lower side thereof. The ends of the cam 41 are inclined so that stems of the valves will ride upon the cams and the valve disks will be forced inward against the tension of their springs thereby opening the valves and maintaining them open throughout the length of the cam. The'valves are held openv throughout the portion of the revolution of the drum in which it is in engagement with vthe belt 6, and to provide as large an area of engagement as possible I preferably mount adjacent the drum an idle roller 42 over which the lower'web of the belt passes' The drum 7 is slotted-in the'same manner as the drum 2 and is also provided with hollow heads connected in the same manner by similar valves with the slots of the drum. At each end of the drum 7 cams 43 similar to cams 41 are rovided for holding the valves open throughout the portion of their travel in which the belt is in engagement with the drum. At the point where the belt leaves the surface of the drum a scraper 44engages the outer face of the belt for removing the solid matter therefrom which then falls on a suitable discharge chute 45 to be collected and disposed in any manner desired. A roller 46 is mounted adjacent the free side of the drum 7 to slightly compress the solid matter carried by the belt 'and prevent its dropping from the belt before it reaches the scraper 44. A. pan 47 is supported beneath this roller forcollecting any liquid that may drip therefrom and there are also provided similar pans 48, 49 under the rollers 8 and 9 to collect any drip from such rollers. The pans 47, 48 are connected by suit-able piping which leads to a pipe 50 which is slotted on its lower side to discharge on the surface of the belt 6 as shown in F1 across the top of the drum% are three 51 connected at one end by suitable manifold to which steam or fresh water and air is deliver-ed from a suitable source, the pipes 51 having slits in their faces adjacent the surface of the drum so that the contents is discharged in the form of a spray against the drum and is drawn through the layer of solid matter on the beltby the suction of a suitable pump connected to the hollow trunnions of the drum end. Connected to the feed pipe of the pipes 51 is a pipe 52 which overlies the under web of the belt 6 to discharge a spra against the belt to thoroughly clean t e same before it reaches the drum The operation of the machine will be obvious from the above, description. The material to be separated is fed into the machine against the periphery of the drum 2.

1. Extending lipest The large fibers will remain on the belt and v travel toward the pressure rollers 8, 9, 14, while the fine particles with the liquid run intern down into the tank, the tank being maintained full of material to substantially the height of the inner end of the teed trough. The/valves 30 of the drum 2 are open on the submerged side of the drum so that the suction through the drum heads and slots in the drum draws the liquid of the mixture through the loose mesh of the belt 6 and causes the solid articles to adhere to the face of the belt. T e belt travels upward between the rollers 8 and 9 and the rollers 14- and 16 which squeeze out more of the liquid and also compress the material into better engagement with the surface of the belt forming a'cake. When the belt reaches the drum 7 the valves in this drum are open and the suction through the trunnions of the drum extracts more of the liquid from the solid matter and also draws through the solid matter the water from the spray pipes 51 thereby thoroughly lixiviating the cake and dissolving out of it all the soluble sugars. While still under su'ction the material passes under the idle roller 46 which presses it onto the belt again before it reaches the scraper 44 by which it is removed. The suction pump from the drum 7 may deliver either directly from the machine, or if considerable water is used for washing this pump may deliver back into the mixing trough allowing the discharge from the machine to be carried by the pump of the drum 2.

In Figs. 6, 7 and 8 I have shown a modified form of my improved machine in which the belts are dispensed with and which is otherwise modified as will now be described. The frame of this machine comprises a tanlr GO in which is mounted a drum 61 similar in position to the drum 2. The drum 61 may be of the same construction as the drum 2 except that, as no belt is employed in this machine, a shell 62 of wire mesh or other suitable material surrounds the drum outside the slots in the periphery of the cylindrical portion 3. A drum 63 of identical construction is mounted above and to the right of the drum 62, the peripheries of the two drums being adjacent to each other. A third drum G4 is similarly mounted along side of the drum 63 and a fourth drum 65 is mounted on the o posite side of the drum 64. This latter rum is provided with a worm wheel 66 driven from the main shaft 67 and all the drums are geared together to rotate in the direction indicated by the various arrows. The shredded cane emulsion is fed to the apparatus by any suitable means, as for instance the feed trough 68 and roll 68 and the drum 65 is provided with a compressing roll (39 and a scraper for removing the solid matter from the face of the roll.

The hollow trunni'ons ofthe drum heads at one end of each of the drums are connected to the suction sides of separate air and water pumps indicated diagrammatically at A, B, (I, and D in Fig. 6, and the other ends of all the drums are connected to a suitable source of air under pressure. The valves 27 are the same at both ends of the drum but their operating cams are dill'ercntly positioned. In Fig. 6 I have shown all the cams for opening the suction valves in full lines at (51, (33, O l, and 65 and the cams for the pressure valves in dotted lines at 61*, G3, (i land 65", respectively.

The suction valves of the drum 61 are open during the portion of the travel of the drum when its periphery is submerged and substantially to the point most closely adjacent the drum (53 thereby serving to draw liquid from the tank through the mesh of the shell (52 against which the solid parti cles are retained by the suction of the pump. At the point of closest proximity of the drums (ll and (33 the suction valves of the drum (31 are closed by their stems running otl the cam (i and the suction valves of the drum (33 are opened to draw the substance from the surface of the drum 1 onto the drum (.13 at the same time the pressure valves of the drum 1 are opened allowing a blast of air to pass through the shell 02 loosening the material therefrom so that it is readily caught up by the (llllllIIl ('33, the air pressure thermi'llter tl'loroughly cleaning the drum for receiving a fresh layer of material from the tank. The cam (53 of the suction valves oi. the drum ()3 is arranged to maintain these valves open until they reach the point of closest proximity to the roll 64 at which point they close and the pressure valves are opener to loosen the cake and are maintained open for a distance suilicient to thoroughly clean the drum. In like manner the suction valves and pressure valves of the drums 64 and (35 are alternately opened as indicated by the positions of their operating cams in Fig. 6 to transfer the material from one drum to the next. In the interval the air under pressure cleans the surface of the drum of any adhering material.

Adjacent the periphery of each of the drums 63, (l-t and (35 on the side where the suction valves are open I provide a series of spray pipes havin slits or perforations in the sides adjacent fill drum for directing the steam or air and liquid against the cake on the drums and be drawn theretln'migh to lixiviate and dissolve out all sucrose in the cake, and it will be noted in this connection that when the cake is transferred from one roll to the next it is turned u side down so that the washing is eil'ectcd trom both sides hi the cake. This liquid may be fresh water for all the drums but such arrangement adds greatly to the amount of liquid which must be evaporated to produce the sugar and I too lot

therefore preferably supply fresh water only tov the pipes for the drum 65. As the material on this drum has already been washed twice it does not contain much sugar and consequently the water leaving it is far from saturated so that it will easily take up more sugar. I therefore connect the spray pipes of the drum 6d with the delivery side of the pump I), of the roll 65. In like manner the spray pipes of the drum 63 are connected to the pressure side of the pump C, so that the same water passes successively through the material on the drums .becoming more and more concentrated as it passes toward the first roll of the series. From the pump B the solution may be delivered to the feed trough 68 thereby reducing the amount of water usually employed to dissolve the cane in the first instance, and permitting the entire solution to be discharged by the pump A from the roll 61. This pump acts solely as a suction pump and therefore is simply a liquid pump instead of a water and air or steam pump as employed for the sprays.

The advantages of my improved mechanism have been largely brought out in the preceding description. The valve 30 is a structural feature of first importance. 'In many uses of the machine the liquid drawn through the valve may be thick and viscous so as in time to clog the necessarily restricted passages through the valve. With the construction shown the entire valve may be withdrawn as a unit and thoroughly cleaned without being dis-assembled so that the machine need not be inoperative more than a few moments.

In both the belt machine and the roller machine the parts are designed to handle the solid matter without'heavy pressure unless desired, the suction being chiefly depended upon to remove the liquid instead of forcing it out'by pressure.

The washing of the material with the sprays while it is under suction is most effective, and by passing the same successively through the material on the several rolls a concentrated solution to be evaporated is obtained and all the sugar is dissolved out of the cane.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a drum having a grooved periphery, a chamber connecting with a plurality of said grooves, a hollow head at the end. of said drum, means for creating suction in said head, a valve between said head and chamber, and means for periodically opening said valve.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a drum, a chamber communicating with the periphery of said drum, a passage adjacent said chamber, and :1

valve between said chamber and passage said valve being detachable. as a unit from having a va ve disk seating against the end of said sleeve and means for detachably securing said sleeve in said bore.

4-111 a machine of the class described, the

combination of a drum, a chamber communicating with the periphery of said drum,

.a porous fabric engaging the surface of said drum, means for producing suction in said drum, and means for spraying the material on the surface of said drum.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a drum, a tank in which the same is mounted, a chamber communieating with the periphery of said drum, a porous fabric engaging the surface of said drum, means for maintaining suction in said drum to take up the solid matter from said tank, a second drum, means for producingsuction in said second drum, means for transferring the material from the first drum to the second drum and means for spraying the material on the surface of said second drum.

6. In a machine of the class, described, the combination of a drum having slots in its periphery, and means for connecting said slots with a suction creating device and with a source offluid pressure.

7 In a machine of the class described, the combination of adrum, chambers insaid drum communicating with its periphery, a suction creating device connected with one of said chambers, a pressure generating device connected with the other of said chambers, and means for alternatel ooimecting said chambers with the periphery of said drum.

8. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a tank for receiving the material to be separated, a drum revolving in said tank and having a porous wall, means for creating suction through the wall of said drum to cause the solid material to adhere thereto and to extract the liquid therefrom, a second similar drum adjacent the first mentioned drum, means for cutting off the suction from the portion of the wall of the first drum which is approaching the second drum and means for creating suction through the portion of the wall of thesecand drum which is receding from the first drum.

9. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a tank for receiving the material to be separated, a drum revolving in said cylinder and having a porous wall, means for creating suction through the wall of said drum to cause the solid material to adhere thereto and extract the liquid therefrom, a second similar drum adjacent the first mentioned drum, means for cutting oif the suction from the portion of the wall of the first drum which isapproaching the second drum, means for creating suction through the portion of the wall of the second drum which is receding froin'the first drum, and means for forcing air under pressure through the portion of the wall of the first drum which is receding from the second drum.

10. In a machine of the class described, a pluralit of drums having porous walls mounte in series with their peripheries adjacent, means for feeding the material to be separated to the first of said drums, means for creating suction through the walls of said drums during a portion of their movement to remove the material from the periphery of the preceding drum and turn the material upside down, and extract the liquid therefrom, means for spraying the portion of the surface of the last drum of the series which is under suction, and means for spraying the liquid extracted from each drum against the ortion of the preceding drum which is un er suction.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York, this 4th day of April, 1913.

AUGUST LINDEMANN.

WVitnesses:

W. B. MORTON, W. J. ROBINSON. 

